Need Insurance Recommendations???

[DBOldford]

We use William West at Waterfield Insurance out of Destin, and have been extremely happy with him. He is highly motivated, very responsive, and impressively well informed. I wish we had his clone here in CA. William was out on disability for a few months not long ago, some surgery and an extended recovery. We really missed him and thought about leaving Waterfield if he was out for keeps. When he returned and resumed as our agent, we stayed. But here's what we found out when we were thinking of changing horses.

Citizens is the only company offering wind damage in FL at this time, with very rare (and expensive) exceptions. We contacted Chantrelle at Kite in Pensacola and were impressed with her. They offer the same hazard coverage that we currently have, for almost half what we are paying at Waterfield. However, their wind coverage was 25% higher than Citizens. We were assured that the new policy with Citizens will be at least that much, if not more, but that is nearly a year away. There is always hope that Citizens will reassign to private companies, as their mandate from the State government requires. Meanwhile, there is no motivation for them to quote reasonable premiums. Despite the significant savings represented by the Kite hazard quote, we opted to stay with Waterfield. They performed well for us on the one occasion we had a claim and we reward dependability and responsiveness. Decided against taking a chance with an unknown company at this time.

Several months ago, I posted that our insurance company failed to mail us the Citizens wind premium and I only found out about it a day before the premium was due and our previous policy terminated. Well, turned out that they did send it to us via our management company (we were at South Walton for the holidays) and the management company failed to forward it or give it to us. It arrived with an unsigned, lame apology months after the fact. Never, ever have important information sent to your management company, regardless of how satisfied you are with their performance in the rental and management realms. I should have known better.

 

[OnMackBayou]

I second the opinion of William West at Waterfield being a good agent. He went way above and beyond the call of duty when we were looking for coverage. He knows the ropes and explains things in a professional easygoing manner.

 

[Beach Runner]

I am fond of William as well. But when he was on leave, his substitute said that Citizens was our only alternative. That is just a false statement!

Glad WW is back.

 

[SHELLY]

I hear you. By no means am I saying that a large company is not vulnerable. My question, Is there a way to know if an insurance company is able to pay its future claims?

Standard & Poor's rates some insurance companies and gives a little info about the companies. You can plug in information at Insure.com: S&P Rating

With some of the "majors" not writing new policies (or pulling out of Florida all together), there are a bunch of small, new, untested companies taking their place (HINT: Put the claims officer on speed dial so you have a shot at settling before the cash runs out. ;-) )

Who woulda thought that I would breath a heavy sigh of relief when I was "blessed" with a renewal notice that is only 50% higher than last year and includes an additional "Citizen's" kicker added for good measure!

Man, $12.50 per hour doesn't go as far as it used to! :roll:

 

[yippie]

I am fond of William as well. But when he was on leave, his substitute said that Citizens was our only alternative. That is just a false statement!

Glad WW is back.

You are correct. Citizens is NOT the only insurance company offering wind in Florida.

You should be very careful dealing with insurance agents, as they will tell you "not so truth's" to scare you into purchasing a policy from them.

Yes, insurance rates have more than doubled in some areas. Mine did. And I'm not with Citizens.

I just spoke with my insurance agent a few days ago and he showed me the notice that went our regarding the suppliments made to Citizens to bail them out. There was a $500 million dollar shortage. So in addition to the rate increase, many companies are acceessing and additional 6% to offset the state mandated contribution to Citizens.

SOMEONE NEEDS TO CALL JEB!!!

 

[pk305]

You all always come through!! Thanks so much for all the great info. I had already contacted one of these & now I have several more to call for comparisons.
I am all about getting/giving personal referrals.....nothing like first-hand experience to tell the tale!! THANKS AGAIN everyone

 

[Beach Runner]

SOMEONE NEEDS TO CALL JEB!!!

Yeah, the supplements for Citizens is an add-on expense that I wasn't expecting. Like I said, bye-bye, S-Class.

I've emailed Jeb many times. His office used to answer me. But now I'm ignored.

 

[SHELLY]

SOMEONE NEEDS TO CALL JEB!!!

Jeb "The Lame" (Brother of George "The Lesser") already knows about the rate hikes:

"Gov. Jeb Bush warned rate increases are inevitable in any solution to Florida's insurance market. "You can't have a business model where you have $20 billion in losses every year and you collect $2 billion in premiums," Bush said this week." (Sidebar: Don't you just LOVE the way he said $20B losses EVERY year??)


SOOOOOOOOOOOO..........

The BAD NEWS IS.....The current surcharge is just the first Citizen's "kicker" to cover $515 million for 2004's losses :shock: ...another is on the way to make up for the $1.5 BILLION loss for 2005.

And The GOOD NEWS IS...You may not have to pay because your carrier will cancel your policy and you won't be able to find a company to write a new policy.

 

[Smiling JOe]

The BAD NEWS IS.....The current surcharge is just the first Citizen's "kicker" to cover $515 million for 2004's losses :shock: ...another is on the way to make up for the $1.5 BILLION loss for 2005.

Shelly is correct. To date, the Citizen's deficit has been charged to you for only the year 2004, and if you thought it was big, wait until the ticket comes for 2005, which is 3 x the size of 2004. Those charges will be coming out later this year. Lord help us all if FL gets hit hard by storms in 2006.

 

[SHELLY]

Shelly is correct. To date, the Citizen's deficit has been charged to you for only the year 2004, and if you thought it was big, wait until the ticket comes for 2005, which is 3 x the size of 2004. Those charges will be coming out later this year. Lord help us all if FL gets hit hard by storms in 2006.

Floridians shouldn't feel they are being "picked on"...the insurance industry is taking advantage of the forecast for more and stronger hurricanes in the upcoming years to hose the rest of the nation as well.

Interesting article in yesterday's WSJ about the increases in homeowner's insurance:

"The hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf Coast last summer are beginning to wreak havoc with homeowners' insurance coverage in states far removed from where the storms hit.

Still reeling from an estimated $56 billion of hurricane-related losses, major insurers are dropping policies or not writing new ones in coastal areas from Texas to Florida and up the Eastern Seaboard as far north as Massachusetts. Insurers including Allstate Corp. and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. say they need to reduce the financial risk that could come with fresh storms as soon as this year. But the moves have left homeowners in a number of states scrambling to find new coverage, often at higher cost."

WSJ Article